Oral administration of solid hygroscopic pharmaceutical materials can cause disturbances in the balance of the gastrointestinal tract, particularly in the stomach, where the drug is ingested for its pharmaceutical effects. In some instances and in some animals, the disturbance takes the form of a burning sensation, queasiness or even disgorgement. One such hygroscopic pharmaceutical material is an exogenously acidified antacid composition having cytoprotective properties described in co-pending application Ser. No. 831,756, filed Feb. 20, 1986, and now abandoned, of Gulan N. Mir et al incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. That application discloses, for example, an exogenously acidified aluminum base, i.e. magaldrate antacid composition wherein the magaldrate is acidified to a pH at which the magaldrate is solubilized and wherein the acidified composition contains about 50 to about 98 grams of precursor magaldrate per 100 milliliters of acidified composition. Such a composition has been found to exhibit gastric cytoprotective properties when administered orally to animals as a liquid or as a spray dried powder. In some instances, however, administration of the acidified antacid composition in the form of a spray dried powder enclosed in a gelatin capsule to animals, such as dogs, has resulted in stomach upset and disgorgement of the medication.